West Dean Gardens launches appeal to save Victorian glasshouses

West Dean Gardens in West Sussex has launched a fund-raising appeal in a bid to restore its Victorian glasshouses.

The estate has 13 glasshouses, but the appeal will focus on two that need “urgent” repairs.

One Victorian glasshouse, which has had to be taken down, will cost over £30,000 to restore to its former glory.

Built between 1891 and 1900, the glasshouses are described as “part of Britain’s horticultural heritage”.

The appeal needs to raise £60,000 this winter. Gardens supervisor Sarah Wain said of the dismantled greenhouse: “Historically, it was the floral house where potted flowering plants were grown on, to take to the big house to display on a weekly/twice-weekly cycle. I used it to grow displays of veg and herbs in pots.

This was followed by pelargoniums and fuchsias (mostly 19th Century cultivars) plus foliage plants and flowering begonias.”